Friday, 3 July 2015

Completed: Double Gauze Emmeline Tee

Given the name of this blog, and the reason behind that (it's my favourite colour), I don't sew nearly as many green garments as you might suppose. My recent make is a step in redressing this.

Green on green

You may recall way back here, when I went through a brief infatuation with Cotton + Steel Bespoke double gauze, and then it sold out, but by then I'd moved onto something else. But I had my lovely double gauze quilt to stroke and I couldn't get a blouse version out of my head. I received some Village Haberdashery gift vouchers at Christmas, so instead of the C+S, I ordered Framework double gauze, by Ellen Baker for Kokka, in teal broken plaid (now sold out in TVH), which is a bit of a mouthful, but which is beautiful. It has the same strokeable softness of the Nani Iro and the C+S, and the colour is gorgeously saturated, although seems to be difficult to capture on camera. IRL it's greener than it appears in these photos.

It was destined to be a Scout, and I'm unsure why it kept getting bumped down the queue, but I'm glad it did, because I was recently fortunate enough to win the Emmeline Tee, the first pattern from The Little Tailoress, which this fabric was perfect for. When it was first released I'd thought it too similar to the Scout to buy, but when Ami posted the giveaway and I took a further look at the pattern, I realised it's not that similar after all. Yes, they are both a relaxed fit and dartless, but where the Scout has set in sleeves, the Emmeline has options for raglan sleeves, grown on (or kimono style) sleeves with or without cuffs, and it is specifically designed for both wovens and knits, with separate instructions for each. Talk about thorough!!!

I made the size Small, and I did a quick muslin first just to check fit. It's not quite as loose fitting as the Scout, but it's still quite relaxed and the Small fit well. I did intend to add about 3cm to the length, just as a personal preference (it's what I add to my Scouts) but I forgot. And actually the length is absolutely fine as is. As there are no sleeves to set in, it's a really quick sew. I opted to make the cuffed sleeve version, and to make the process a little more fiddly by using French seams, which was tricky with only a 1cm seam allowance and a fabric that frayed like nothing else. Other than that though, it was a quick, easy and pleasant sew. There's not really a lot to say because it went so well.

Bias binding. Perfect from the outside...

The neckline is bound with self bias tape, which gives a really pleasing effect, with the "broken plaid" on the diagonal. Due to the shifty nature and open weave of the fabric, the bias tape was difficult to manage, so it's a bit messy on the inside. For some reason the pressed edge didn't want to stay pressed and so I have some raw edges that unfurled themselves as I sewed. I did unpick and redo a couple of sections, but I still ended up with some exposed raw edges, and due to the open weave I didn't want to risk damaging the fabric with lots of unpicking, so I left it as is.

... not so good from the inside.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this top, which has already become one of those "wear, straight into the machine, straight out and onto my back" type shirts. I have worn it to work, casually and on a night out. I think the fabric works well with the pattern. As I said, it's a little less loose (more fitted?) than the Scout, which took me a bit to get used to, but I do like it. I love the cuffed sleeves, which are a little different to anything else I have in my wardrobe, and I like the wider scoop neck.

Cuff detail

One word of warning: this pattern is a wee bit of a fabric eater. With the grown on/kimono style sleeves I couldn't fit the front and back side by side with a double fold. My fabric was only 106cm wide, but I would have been able to do this with the Scout. Plus there is the bias tape pattern piece which is quite long. To conserve fabric I ended up actually cutting this in half and cutting 2 (adding SA) and then joining them, but that then meant I had to think about where to place my bias tape so I didn't have a join at CF (I placed the join at one shoulder and then closed the tape at the other shoulder). I bought 1.5m and I think i have about 20cm left of the full width, plus fairly decent sized scraps that are only about 40cm wide. I reckon with 150cm wide fabric, I might be able to fit the bodice pieces side by side, and thus have got away with a metre of fabric, and if I'd made the version without cuffs, I probably could have fit it into a metre of the narrower width. It doesn't matter too much, but I do like to have a selection of patterns I can make with a metre of fabric, as then I can better justify (and afford) the pricier ones I always seem to want.

This is a good versatile pattern to have in the arsenal. I can see this made up in a wide variety of fabrics, and I am looking forward to trying it in some knits too.

Baby Boy. Not really a baby any more.

We took these photos at Jupiter Artland, where we went last Sunday for Father's Day and Small Boy's birthday, which was Monday. It's a privately owned sculpture park near Edinburgh, which is utterly amazingly beautiful. You just wander round the grounds of the house (a private residence), stumbling across these fantastic (and sometimes creepy) works of art, some by well known artists such as Anish Kapoor, Jim Lambie, Anthony Gormley and Charles Jencks. Here is a selection of my photos which seriously don't do it justice.

Jim Lambie. And the McFadyens.

Anish Kapoor

Anthony Gormley

Weeping Girls by Laura Ford. Particularly creepy if you are a Doctor Who fan.

this is lovely! I do like the look of the pattern, but was put off because I thought it was slightly too pricey for what it is. But reading this has made me look again - I overlooked the various options etc, so might just add it to the list of patterns to try!

Really lovely top - I can see why it's on high rotation! The fabric is just beautiful, and the effect of the neckline binding is really striking. I love this pattern and plan to get it once the warmer weather rolls around again - not much call for it here at the moment!

This is a gorgeous top - the fabric is lovely and it looks so good on you. I really like those cuffs and the raglan sleeve option. I really should try & get to Jupiter Artland while I'm up this time, it looks fab!